Pioneer Air Conditioner Inverter+ Ductless Wall Mount Mini Split System Air Conditioner & Heat Pump Full Set, 18000 BTU 230V

Purchased the 12000 BTU 115V 17 SEER model, Pioneer Air Conditioner WYS012AMFI17RL Ductless Inverter+ Mini-Split Heat Pump Complete System for a small rental property I am working on refurbishing and thus far I am fairly impressed with the unit. The install was far easier than I thought it was going to be. To start with I spent quite a bit of time researching code issues and general install considerations for this type of unit as this is my first time attempting an install of a mini-split . Armed with this I set out to do the majority of the install myself to include making a custom stand from 3/16″ x 1.5″ aluminum angle. The only really hard part was running the electrical line and while not complicated took a little time to route properly and get all the connections right. Not overly complicated thought. I installed the main line, 12/2 UF cable, (14/2 would have worked too for those who will bring the wire size up), running it to a junction box just outside the house where I further branched to an A/C disconnect box and then on to the outside unit itself. All outside lines were ran inside of 1/2″ watertight conduit with the appropriate fittings. Again, nothing really complex just a little time consuming and really hot working in the attic of the rental. Next came mounting the bracket to the wall for the inside unit and drilling the 2.5″ hole through the wall for the line set to exit the house. I was careful to locate the studs in the wall and made sure not to drill into them with the hole saw. Once the hole was drilled I then set out to connect the control cable to the inside unit so it could be ran outside the house with the refrigerant line set. This step was the cause of a little confusion at the beginning. First off, the color codes on the control wire and the diagrams on both the inside unit and outside unit were all completely different! For a few long minutes it was a head scratcher and then it dawned on me that the terminals on both the inside and outside unit had stickers on the wire terminal blocks, with the inside unit having the numbers 1-3 and the symbol for ground and the outside unit with numbers 1-3, L and N for Line and Neutral. Ground was quite evident. Anyway, despite the mixed up color codes and trying to make sense of them, simply make sure that the control wire colors correspond to the same numbers inside and out. In my case the control wire was black, red, white and green. So I arbitrarily assigned Black=1, Red =2, White=3 and of course Green to ground. The next problem I had was the control wire had pre-crimped connectors on both ends that would not fit the terminal block on the inside unit so I had to cut the connectors off in order to attach them to the terminal block on the inside unit. Not a big deal, simply another minor inconvenience with the install process. The factory connectors fit just fine on the outside unit. Now moving back to the outside unit. I custom built a stand out of aluminum angle that put the bottom of the unit about 22 inches above ground level. The stand was a simple matter of fitting together the aluminum angle and bolting it together then setting the legs in concrete. 1 and 1/4 bags of Quickcrete did the job just fine for setting the legs in 8″ inches in a hole dug with a set of standard post hole diggers. If you go this route be sure to level the unit front to back and side to side. All total the cost of the stand was about $65.00 including the metal, nuts and bolts and concrete. After that, most of the “grunt” work was done and I had a friend who is a recently retired HVAC guy help with the rest of the install which included leak checking and pulling a vacuum on the line set prior to release of the refrigerant. Laying out the line set was easy and did not require a pipe bender. The few bends that were put in were done gently by hand. As for the connections the factory flares were great and instead of re-flaring the lines we opted to cut the lines to size behind the flares and then use a soldered on copper coupler to rejoin the sections of copper line. (Ended up removing about 18 inches of line). Worked wonderfully with no leaks or other problems. After the purge, leak check and vacuum, the refrigerant was released, we fired the unit up and it worked like a charm! Very cold output on cool and good heat output on hot! I purchased one of the line hide kits and it worked well just wish it came with a 90 degree adapter, due to the way I have the set up I was only able to use half of the hide (for the vertical run) and will probably do like many others and get a section of plastic gutter for the horizontal run of the line set. Overall I am very pleased with the purchase, the instructions were relatively clear and easy to follow and it was generally an easy install. If you have average DIY skills and some basic tools you shouldn’t have a problem installing the unit. Take the time and do a little research on the web and you’ll save yourself a ton of money! I do recommend finding a HVAC professional to assist with the final install, not only does it provide a little extra piece of mind but will probably be less expensive than buying a set of gauges, a decent vacuum pump, a torch, possibly a flare kit and the other “tools of the trade”. I’ll try to remember to upload some photos of the completed project a little later. Thanks for reading and if you get one of these, good luck with your install!

Perfect solution for our remodeled game room. It was a previous 2 car garage and didn’t have central heat/air ducts so it was so hot or cold we couldn’t enjoy the room. We decided to remodel the room and this was a must have. I researched every mini-split system on the market and based on reviews this Pioneer system seemed to be the clear winner. I couldn’t be happier and as other reviews state, if it weren’t for the LED temp readout being on you couldn’t even tell this thing is on. It is so quiet and so efficient that this room is now the most comfortable room in our house. The room is 600 sq ft and we went with the 18K BTU and it seems to be perfect for the room. A smaller one probably would have been sufficient but I figured for the small price difference, it was better safe than sorry. You can’t go wrong with this system and you won’t be disappointed! If you’re shopping for a ductless air system, I would order this Pioneer right now.

One word of advice, have it professionally installed because you will need an HVAC tech to bleed the lines anyway so just let them do it all. It cost me $650 for the full installation and that was the best money I’ve ever spent. Also, buy a trim kit for the outside hoses and have it BEFORE you install it because if not you won’t know where to hang the brackets between the trim pieces. I’m still figuring this issue out but I wish I would have ordered the trim kit at the same time as the system because the installer could have attached the hose trim pieces during installation. Just for what it’s worth.

I have had it running for a few days. I bought the 12K and 24K units.

If you are thinking about doing it yourself its possible but it wasn’t as easy as some reviewers say. Perhaps the next time I do it I will say differently. What took me the most time is the electrical since I had to go across the house and put a sub-panel in. I have done that before but fishing wires and mounting and cutting conduit just takes time so remember that.

I was completely paranoid about the vacuum part but honestly that was the easiest part. The hardest part of the process is bending the lines and cutting them to length to make a nice looking install. Sure I would have just hung the coils out of the wall and called it day but to make it nice you really need to do some bending and cutting, at least in my situation. I had my brother-in-law come for the bending/cutting/vac part (he is a tech) so he could teach me and I am so happy he did. It gave me peace of mind. I could have done it without him but if you have someone who can guide you on your first time then call them.

The product seems awesome, it came with literally everything needed and the instructions are very good. What you will need is a pipe cutter, flaring tool, torque wrench (if you want to go by the book) and crows fittings for your lineset size, crescent wrenches, nylog (though it does come with lineset sealant I wanted the good stuff), some sort of mounting pad, cement blocks (to raise it off the mounting pad),pipe bender for sharp bends (we did ours slowly all by hand because I bought the wrong size), vacuum pump (go 5cfm or higher for longer length), manifold gauges, micrometer (for the sticklers I am told), nitrogen to pressure test and the regulator for it (I was going to skip this part but my brother-in-law brought it with him so we did it), all the electrical equipment like volt meter, conduit, breakers, wires, etc. Its a long list as you can see so this should serve as a warning to the complexity of the project.

Last thing, you need to raise it off the pad, as it comes its too low and the outside drain section hits the ground (used in heat mode), hence the cement bricks. If I were to do it again I would probably just get a snow stand. I am glad I did it but take your time, it’s certainly not an easy project but it’s a doable one if you are motivated. With the tools I saved around 8K over what installers around here wanted for these two rooms (family room and basement exercise studio)